Inventors are known for having great ideas. Making those ideas
sell-well, that's another skill altogether. Inventors
frequently lack the expertise or resources necessary to really
launch a product successfully.

Enter manufacturers' reps, who can bring extensive knowledge
and expertise to a budding entrepreneur's sales approach.
Having a manufacturers' rep represent your new product adds
some serious advantages to the equation. For one thing, reps
usually have large, established sales networks that ideally have
significant market contacts. Plus, representatives get paid only
when they make the sale, which is a far better alternative for
underfinanced inventors who'd otherwise incur high costs
associated with setting up an internal sales organization from
scratch.

Not surprisingly, reps look very attractive to inventors. But
unfortunately, inventors don't look all that attractive to
reps. The primary problem is that inventors don't yet have
existing sales, so reps are forced to pioneer the market. It's
common for reps to lose money during the first few years spent
selling a new product, because their sales costs may exceed their
commissions. They won't actually cash in until customers start
buying.

Considering the important role they just might play in your
business, you'd be well-advised to learn how to locate, sign on
and nurture such reps. After all, who wouldn't want a rep if it
meant maximizing his or her company's profits?

Growing
Strong
Jane McKittrick, 48, started out as most inventors do-by attempting
to take on the big job of selling her innovative gardening products
herself. Sure, she and her partners made some sales on their own,
but the products didn't really take off until they hired a rep
to take over.

McKittrick's innovative line of products stemmed from the
simple realization that many gardening jobs were tough on a
person's hands and arms, especially when using hand tools like
small handheld hoes, trowels and cultivators. So McKittrick and
partner Patricia Greene, 48, created six new garden hand tools that
featured comfortable, upright handgrips and flexible arm cuffs to
increase leverage. The main benefit of these products is in the
design (refined by McKittrick's other partners, father and son
Steve Kari, 57, and John Kari, 34), which effectively cuts down the
strain gardening puts on arms and wrists.

Originally, the partners started out by selling a modest number
of products at the Minnesota State Fair. That was before they hired
a rep. Now, by year-end 2002, they expect their Forest Lake,
Minnesota, company, Earth Bud-Eze, to sell at least 15,000 tools
annually at retail prices ranging from $9.99 to $15.95 through
large gardening stores and chains nationwide. Thanks to the
expertise of Marshall Associates Inc., a rep group with extensive
contacts in the hardware and gardening markets, Earth Bud-Eze is
achieving the kind of success the partners had once only dreamed
of.

Like many innovations, the design of these tools was inspired by
real-life observations. "Six years ago, Jane was doing a lot
of landscape gardening, but she didn't have enough arm strength
to keep up with the men on the job," Greene says. So the
partners developed a product that would preserve her strength while
gardening. Soon enough, they found they weren't the only
gardeners who appreciated easy-to-use tools. "Our products are
for everyone who wants to make gardening less work," explains
Greene.

Although they knew their products had the potential to sell
well, actually getting them into the hands of customers proved
difficult. In addition to introducing the products at the 2000
Minnesota State Fair, the partners tried licensing their products
to another company-to no avail. Having to rely solely on sales from
the fair wasn't really enough to put the company on the
map.

In the fall of 2000, Greene was introduced to Terry Byrnes, a
member of her church who happened to work for Marshall Associates
Inc., a nationwide manufacturers' sales agency that
specializes in gardening products. The agency liked the products
and added them to its line-and in one short year, Earth Bud-Eze
went from respectable sales at the state fair level to retail
success at mass merchants and hardware stores nationwide. What
convinced the agency to pick up the products? Greene says Marshall
Associates had noticed a tremendous need in the gardening industry
for tools that were easy to use-and Earth Bud-Eze fit the bill.

Time-Tested Tips

Think your product might have what it takes to catch the
attention of a manufacturers' rep? Try these ideas for getting
off to the right start:

Maintain product quality.
Greene and McKittrick started out making the products in their
garage, but they switched over to a local manufacturer once they
signed with a rep firm. That way, they could ensure the product
would be durable and also look like it was made by a large
company.

Be honest. Provide upfront
information about your business' situation without holding
anything back. Reps don't like to be surprised by bad news you
"forgot" to mention. Reps will quickly stop working for
an inventor who doesn't communicate honestly.

Develop a personal
relationship. Visit your reps, support them at major
trade shows and keep in constant contact with them. Greene happened
to know her rep from church, and the regular face-to-face contact
helped nurture the business relationship.

Provide all the support you
can. Although Greene and McKittrick can't afford an
expensive advertising campaign, they have hired a public relations
firm to send out press releases to the local papers whenever
Marshall Associates lands a new store. "We also try to provide
whatever the rep needs for trade shows or retailer
presentations," says Greene.

Play an active role. Help
your reps get off to a strong start with retailers. In addition to
helping with PR, like Greene and McKittrick, special promotions,
product displays, extra discounts and in-store demonstrations are
other low-cost tactics sure to help the rep sell your product to
customers.

Sign an agreement that offers mutual
long-term benefits. A rep's greatest fear is that he
or she will pioneer a product line, only to have the manufacturer
take it away once it becomes successful. Reps who take on a new
line typically invest in that line for at least two years before
earning any significant commissions, so they want to be assured the
line will still be theirs once sales start to skyrocket.

Experienced marketers know that strong relationships with their
reps are vital to success. As Greene and McKittrick have found,
appreciating reps and focusing on a marketing program based on
their needs really pays off. If you want to someday enlist the help
and expertise of reps, follow Greene and McKittrick's lead and
treat them like your most important customers. The result will be
big profits for you and high commissions for your reps. That's
a win-win situation sure to help your business grow.

READ ALL ABOUT
IT

If
you've never worked with manufacturers' sales
representatives, look for a copy of the MANA Directory from the Manufacturers'
Agents National Association, available at most larger libraries and
online at www.manaonline.org. The
directory includes articles on figuring out what reps are looking
for, signing agreements and choosing the best reps for
you.

Are you a first-time inventor or trying
to license your product for the first time? Check out The Inventor's
Bible by Ronald Louis Docie (Ten Speed Press). The
book offers an easy-to-understand process for licensing an
invention and covers all the necessary steps, from patenting to
negotiating a licensing agreement.